Nigerian Wins 2017 World Food Prize – news week of June 26

News items related to ag tech, biotech, trade – and perhaps some other interesting items out there related to agriculture – will be posted on this page throughout the week (as the week progresses newest items will be in green at bottom of sections). Be sure to come back and check the page during the week.

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Congratulations to the 2017 World Food Prize Laureate, Dr. Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina from Nigeria, announced as this year’s recipient at an event Monday, June 26 in Washington, DC held at the US Dept. of Agriculture.

DR. AKINWUMI AYODEJI ADESINA, the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), will be recognized as the 2017 World Food Prize Laureate. Through his roles over the past two decades with the Rockefeller Foundation, at the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and as Minister of Agriculture of Nigeria, Dr. Adesina has been at the forefront of galvanizing political will to transform African agriculture through initiatives to: expand agricultural production, thwart corruption in the Nigerian fertilizer industry and exponentially increase the availability of credit for smallholder farmers across the African continent…

AG, AG TECH, PRODUCTION, PROTECTION, RELATED ISSUES:

“Poor EU decision making about the future of crop protection products could jeopardise the UK’s supply of cost-effectively produced food and cost farmers more than £1bn, warned the National Farmers Union (NFU).” – Link

Farm Babe: From organics to GMOs, any farmer can be an excellent conservationist – AgDaily – By Michelle Miller, Farm Babe (June 20)

“Despite the fact that we are in a fast-paced, tech-savvy industry, people in general still seem to have a romantic image of farming. They want to envision beauty — the red barns, the families, the beautiful scenery, amber waves of grain. The good news is we can have both — technology just allows us to keep the lands more pristine than in generations past.” – Link

“…Hitachi, is trialling a range of different technologies enabling farmers to run driverless machinery or remotely calculate pasture and soil moisture conditions to make better grazing management decisions.” – Link

POLICY, REGULATORY, ACTIVISM, OTHER:

Review: In ‘Food Evolution,’ Scientists Strike Back – The New York Times – By Daniel M. Gold (June 22)

“With a soft tone, respectful to opponents but insistent on the data, “Food Evolution” posits an inconvenient truth for organic boosters to swallow: In a world desperate for safe, sustainable food, G.M.O.s may well be a force for good.” – Link

“Counterfeit certification labels, such as fake organic or protected designation of origin (PDO) labels, continues to be a major problem for the European food industry, according to a report by Europol.” – Link

Take Feta. Add Frites. Stir in European Food Rules. Fight. – New York Times – By James Kanter (June 21)

“Fights over culinary traditions are common in Europe, where countries are fiercely protective of their gastronomical heritage, and the rule books are full of regional food and drink that are “protected.”” – Link

“The increasingly loud debate about food waste could easily lead one to believe it is “the” biggest issue industry currently faces, but new study in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics suggests most estimates are overblown and many proposed solutions are off-base.” – Link

“…the EPA, Department of Army and Army Corps of Engineers announced they are proposing a rule that rescinds the Clean Water Rule, a 2015 regulation that sought to clarify water resource management in the U.S. and attempted to define “waters of the United States,” or WOTUS.” – Link